As the discharging machine for continuously discharging a fixed amount of a particulate body from a container containing the particulate body, there are in use a belt feeder, a vibration feeder, a screw feeder, a rotary feeder, a roll feeder, etc. of these, a belt feeder and a roll feeder are often used when it is necessary to set a precise flow rate.
In the industry handling a particulate body, there is often needed an equipment for discharging a particulate body simultaneously from a plurality of containers each containing the particulate body and carrying the particulate body into a container. In such a case, one discharging machine such as mentioned above is provided below each of the containers; and a belt conveyor or the like is used in order to carry the particulate body discharged from each container, to a particular place.
An example of such an equipment is shown in FIG. 5. In this discharging equipment 120, roll feeders 90a, 90b, . . . 90e for discharging a particulate body are provided below a plurality of containers 10a, 10b, . . . 10e containing the particulate body. Below the roll feeders 90a, 90b, . . . 90e is provided a belt conveyor 122 for transferring the particulate body discharged.
The belt conveyor 122 is accommodated in a casing 121. Supply pipes 125a, 125b, . . . 125e are connected to the outlet sides of the roll feeders 90a, 90b, . . . 90e, penetrate the top of the casing 121, and are inserted into the casing 121; and the front end portions of the supply pipes are arranged along the carrying direction of the belt. The particulate bodies discharged from the roll feeders 90a, 90b, . . . 90e pass through the supply pipes 125a, 125b, . . . 125e and are supplied onto the belt conveyor 122. The casing 121 has a particulate body outlet 124 below the end of the carrying direction of the belt conveyor 122. The particulate body supplied from the supply pipes 125a, 125b, . . . 125e onto the belt conveyor 122 are carried to the carrying direction (arrow X) of the belt conveyor 122 and are discharged from the particulate body outlet 124 outside the belt conveyor 122.
Such a discharging equipment can discharge a particulate body contained in a plurality of containers, simultaneously and continuously and can carry the discharged particulate body to a particular place. However, since this system has the roll feeders 90a, 90b, . . . 90e and the belt conveyor 122, the numbers of the rotating machines and electric motors for driving them become inevitably large, increasing the equipment cost and the expenses for maintenance of the rotating machines and electric motors. Further, since the roll feeders and the belt conveyor are provided below the containers of particulate body, each container need be provided at a high position, requiring a large installment space in a vertical direction.
In order to solve the problems, Patent Literature 1 proposes a discharging machine which is provided with partitions at the inlet portion of a roll feeder and thereby can continuously discharge a particulate body from a plurality of containers. In this discharging machine, a plurality of inlet passages of particulate body communicating with a plurality of containers are formed on the roll surfaces along the roll axial direction. Owing to this structure, the discharging machine can continuously discharge a particulate body from the plurality of containers.
With this discharging machine, the plurality of roll feeders required in the system of FIG. 5 can be replaced with a single discharging machine. Accordingly, the numbers of rotating machines and electric motors can be reduced. However, in this discharging machine, a plurality of chutes is needed in order to supply a particulate body to the discharging machine from containers. These chutes need to have an elevation angle which is at least the angle of rest of particulate body. Consequently, a large installment space is required in a vertical direction, posing a problem. Patent Literature 1: JP-A-1999-76794